雅美之途
教育，人文，社會
今年是同濟醫學院誕生110周年的校慶，使我想起自己在富有激情的歲月裏做過的一件不成功的事情，一晃眼都快20年了。故事發生在1998年，當時我己經來美國8年了，但是通訊遠沒有現在這麽通暢。我在網上遊覽時發現了上海同濟大學的美國校友會的網站，他們的網站做得漂亮的原因恐怕是因為他們校友會主席是在同濟學計算機出身的，而武漢同濟當時沒有任何的美國校友會，更談不上網站了。
當時新浙江大學已經通過合並產生，雖然隻有浙大一家合並了，但對全國的衝擊很大。原來的浙江醫科大學已經成為新浙大的醫學院，我想母校同濟醫科大學的命運也隻能走合並的道路了。我覺得同濟與其和武漢大學合並，不與重歸上海同濟而成為同濟大學醫學院，當時我借用美國康乃爾大學和它的醫學院分隔幾百英裏的例子來說服自己和大家，如果當時有高鐵就更有說服力了。我便給上海同濟美國校友會的網上聯係郵箱寫了一封信，沒有想到的是，他們以校友會主席吳建為主的數位負責人迅速並且熱情地回應了我。吳建當時還是一位單身貴族，現在己經是相當成功的IT創業人士了。我們一拍即合地決定先在美國建立聯合的同濟校友會，將他們的網站改成聯合校友會的網站，然後試圖遊說國內的兩所同濟響應。他們當時積極與上海同濟大學女校長吳啟迪聯係，據說還得到了她的支持，我則給武漢的裘法祖教授寫過親筆信，但是沒有得到裘先生的回函。他們還弄了個一官半職給我，任命我為同濟大學美國聯合校友會的副主席，讓我負責武漢同濟方麵的工作。這樣我起草了一份希望上海同濟和武漢同濟合並的英文呼籲書，放在了聯合同濟校友會的網上。
雖然這是一段未竟的嚐試，但它表達的是天下同濟人對母校的感情，包括一位普通的武漢同濟美國校友的擔心，因為他的母校僅從校名來看就是這麽顛簸流離：同濟大學醫學院、中南同濟醫學院、武漢醫學院、同濟醫科大學和華中科技大學同濟醫學院。還是讓大家讀這段值得回味的曆史吧：
1。下麵為我在2010年9月20日放入新浪博客時寫的備注。當時我還不會中文輸入法，所以全部用英文寫成：
We are surprised to realize that we have already arrived in an age that we are able to tell a decade-old story. In the fall of 1998, we sensed an upcoming transition that our Alma Mater, Tongji Medical University, may have to face in the era when the new Zhijiang University was emerging through the combination of four different schools in Hangzhou. My browse activities led me find a newly developed website of Tongji University America Alumni Association (TJUAAA) under the leadership of their president Jian Wu. He was a computer science major from Shanghai Tongji and had been working as a software engineer in the Bay area of California. My email communication with Jian received an enthusiastic response on my initial proposal of exploring the possibility to merge two Tongjis in the future. After a few round of discussions, we believed it would be a good idea to have a combined Tongji website to serve all of the Tongji alumni. I drafted an essay to explain our joined mission and this article was put into the combined Tongji alumni website.
Unlike the strong influential alumni groups in the United States, our voice had a limited calling power as this campaign was ultimately unsuccessful and we are now part of HUST since 2000. One positive outcome from this is that I got reconnected with one classmate who was doing the postdoctoral training in Germany, while I was coordinated to collect the communication list of the alumni from Wuhan Tongji. Later on, we all were aware of Chen Ligong's noted article on the opposition of Wuhan Tongji's merge with HUST, and some details in the nearly humiliated negotiation process with Wuhan University. We completely understood the feeling when Qiu Fazhu and Wu Zhongbi were in a position to defend Tongji’s brand in their talks with the arrogant Wuda officials. Reading through these twelve-year old words, the emotion is still there.
2。An essay written in 1998 for combined Tongji website: （當時我為同濟大學聯合美國校友會網站寫的呼籲上海同濟和武漢同濟合並的英文文章，曾經放在我們網站的首頁。當時中文軟件更是十分缺乏，隻能寫英文）
“As one of the most prestigious universities in China, Tongji started her prospective journey as a medical school in Shanghai, which was established by German physician Dr. Bolon in 1907. Early Tongji Medical School with its special relationship with Germany, while a powerhouse in medical education and research, had served as a unique academic basis to introduce modern western medicine to ancient China.
The rich history on medical education has been associated with Tongji University for almost a half century. However, the order of separating Tongji's Medical School from its main campus in 1950s had a terrible impact on Tongji University's operation as a first-class university although the separated Tongji Medical University in Wuhan has been developed into one of the finest medical schools in China. Last year, thousands of Tongji alumni around the world, together with faculties and students of Tongji University in Shanghai (Shanghai Tongji) and Tongji Medical University in Wuhan (Wuhan Tongji), simultaneously celebrated our Alma Mater's 90 years birthday. Looking back, the two universities of Tongji not only share the respected name but also the tradition of excellence on teaching and research; Looking forward, the two Tongjis have to face the future challenge: recombination of the high education system in response to the merging China's economic power.
The idea of potentially merging Shanghai Tongji and Wuhan Tongji in a near future has received a strong positive response from numerous alumni and friends associated with both universities. It will be an exciting project to pursue in terms of combining two solid schools with a similar history. In a united Tongji University, medical students need spend three to four years of their college life in the main campus of Shanghai Tongji to build a solid foundation on basic science and humanity knowledge. With a deep understanding of the laws about how nature and society operate and function, the medical students will have more broad views to go back to Wuhan Tongji for finishing their formal medical training. The requirement of completed college education prior to medical school, beginning at Johns Hopkins University approximately one hundred years ago, is a characterized principle of America's medical education system. This system is renowned for its ability of producing not only highly quality clinical practitioners for manage care but also the outstanding physician scientists for scientific discovery and innovation. If we could establish this system in Tongji successfully, the demands of high quality pre-medical education are also a driving force to enhance Shanghai Tongji's development on basic science and humanity departments, a transition from a technical institute into a real comprehensive university.
It is obvious that we need work hard to overcome the geographic barrier between Wuhan and Shanghai, but these concerns can be minimized in the situation when China becomes more advanced in electrical communication and transportation. In the United States, one of Ivy League, Cornell University has been successfully operating its medical school in New York City, several hundred miles from its main campus in Ithaca, Upstate New York. We even can view this problem positively, medical students who have a privilege to study in the environment of both Shanghai and Wuhan sub-cultures will enrich their life experiences in a wonderful young age.
It is also a privilege for any comprehensive university (even in the United States) to host a medical school. There are only 128 medical schools in this country compared with more than one thousand universities and colleges around the fifty states. If you consider the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) as a medical school of UC, Berkeley, Princeton University may be the only elite comprehensive university who does not have a medical school in the United States. We have impressed that the medical schools in this country are almost always the largest and most important component in the university. The reason for this phenomenon is very simple, that is because human being cares about themselves, life science has a direct beneficial impact on the mankind.
We have demonstrated that the unification of two universities of Tongji is an exciting project to explore. The positive results of the project will benefit both universities and significantly improve Tongji University's position in the map of China's high education. We have agreed to unite our America's Alumni organization of both schools as one of the initial steps. Let's work together to push this project forward and turn our dream into a reality as soon as it can.”
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thank you for your information, 否則我真以為自己中年癡呆了。
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Your information was incorrect, please see here from wiki: "2000年4月3日，與北京大學合並，組建了新的北京大學，北京醫科大學成為北京大學醫學部。"
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早在浙大合並前4年，北大和北醫就已經合並了。所以不是隻有浙大一家。